The Chief Minister also announced that under the Indira Bal Swasthya Yojna (IBSY), free treatment would henceforth be provided to all children.

Earlier, free treatment was being provided to only children hailing from Below Poverty Line families, an official release said here.

Hooda announced these decisions while presiding over a meeting with senior officers of Health Department here.

The State Urban Health Mission will seek to set up Urban Health Centres over a population of one lakh which would provide curative, promotive and preventive health services.

Besides, poly-clinics and dispensaries will be operationalized in many cities.

Outreach services will be provided through health officials and community health motivators. This mission will be implemented in a phased manner initially focusing on urban areas with large slum population.

Hooda said that so far the Rural Health Mission launched by the central government had largely catered to the need of rural population but in view of rapid urbanisation in Haryana, there was an urgent need to address the health needs of a large section of the population residing in urban slums who were vulnerable to higher disease burden and were likely to have poor health indicators.

Under the Urban Health Mission, government would also upgrade its district hospitals located in major towns and provide additional hospitals in cities having more than five lakh population.

The objective of the programme is to provide affordable and accessible basic healthcare facilities near the place of residence for the poor who are otherwise forced to spend a large part of their income on health care.

Under IBSY, free treatment would include surgical intervention, implants, aids and medicines in government institutions at the district as well as the tertiary level institutions like PGIMER and AIIMS.